OT: Sometimes it just doesn't pay to be the guru...

[tedwhite]

I actually live in Arizona. I've sold a number of cameras and photographic gear for friends and aquaintances and have developed a local reputation for being the person to go to when you want to sell on ebay. (I even sold a Harley for a friend). Lately, the reputation has become a burden. I get phone calls such as, "Hi. I've got this set of dishes..." "How much do you think I can get for this mink stole?" "Can you sell Basset Hound puppies on ebay?"

Initially I tried telling these people that I only know about cameras and I don't handle items I know nothing about and have no idea what their market value is (nor do I wish to spend hours learning about mink stoles). When that didn't work well, I developed a better strategy:

"My commission is fifty percent." No more phone calls.

As for my rf camera (Bessa R), I was helping a friend photograph a wedding when a well-dressed woman looked at my camera and said, "My, that's a tiny little thing. Is it for taking little pictures?"

Ted

 

[captainslack]

As for my rf camera (Bessa R), I was helping a friend photograph a wedding when a well-dressed woman looked at my camera and said, "My, that's a tiny little thing. Is it for taking little pictures?"

:bang:

As my father likes to say, the Good Lord must love idiots because he certainly made a lot of them!

 

[refinder]

haha...

hey Bill, are you going to write a Hollywood screenplay one of these days, called...umh...i don't know..."Rangefinder In The Church"...maybe?

good writing. good sensibility. good humor. good depth.

can a serious overtone be read into it? don't really know, but hey, look at the troubles around the world today, believes rise higher than truth. well, we, as one, are only human afterall. the refined feels sorry for the slanted, the slanting slants.

- refinder

 

[jan normandale]

Bill, I have a friend who has been in the "used / collectible" record business for about 20 years. He continually gets people calling him saying they found a bunch of 'valuable' 78 rpm records and what would he pay for them. He tells them most times he isn't interested in 78's because they are beaten up and worthless. If they want him to look for free they have to bring the stuff into his shop, he's not going to use his day pricing goods.

Most people are incredulous. He didn't tell them what they wanted to hear. People are people always want the higest price selling and grouse when they have to pay for a 'working copy'. Makes the world go round tho.

 

[lushd]

I've really enjoyed this thread - thanks Bill and all. Strangely enough, although I am well known for photography amongst my friends and colleagues this has never ever happened. I think it's because they know I am into rangefinders, especially the russian types. They respect my madness but keep their distance in case I try to Zorkify them.

The most amusing "mistake" made by a member of the general populace occurred to me at Camden Town tube station. I was going home carrying just a Metz flashgun (the big hammerhead type with the wetcell battery) and a drunk leaned over to me and said "Thash a nyshe camera - wossort is it?" I just smiled and said it wasn't a camera and he went away.

 

[tedwhite]

Jan: A friend of mine owns a camera store and he has lots of quite good film cameras, all at outrageous prices. He has given me a number of items to sell for him on a 20% commission basis. This guy is innocent of both computers and digital cameras and probably wouldn't know how to turn on either of them.

Each time he's given me an item (Rolleiflex, Nikon bellows slide copier, Minolta100mm macro lens with 1:1 extension tube, etc.) I've had to badger him into lowering his absurd reserve price to a realistic figure. And, as you put it, I didn't tell him what he wanted to hear. $700 is not an unrealistic reserve price for a mint Rolleiflex 2.8. It becomes unrealistic when there's a California driver's license number etched on the bottom of the lens mount. I said "This turns it from a collector item into just another user Rollei. You'll be lucky to get $400 for it." He refused to lower the reserve. Camera didn't sell. The high bid was $431.

Today I'm returning his Minolta lens to him. Didn't even list it as he wouldn't come off the $200 reserve. I won't be accepting any more of his gear, and I'm not going to do any more stuff for other people, either, for the reasons you outlined. They can keep their great expectations.

Ted

 

[bmattock]

Today I'm returning his Minolta lens to him. Didn't even list it as he wouldn't come off the $200 reserve. I won't be accepting any more of his gear, and I'm not going to do any more stuff for other people, either, for the reasons you outlined. They can keep their great expectations.

I understand your frustration - and even your friend's, believe it or not. I think there are at least two forces at work here.

The first is that eBoy changes the landscape of what is available. If you live in a small town, or even a large city, there are only a given number of 1936 left-handed moss-covered family credenza's avaiable at any given time. If there is any demand at all, then it is a seller's market. On a world-wide marketplace such as eBoy, there liable to be any number of the exact same item at any given time - and if you don't get one, another just like it or better will be along shortly. It becomes more of a buyer's market.

The second is of course the changing demand for film cameras. Although there is a continuing demand for used and especially classic film cameras, the fact is that the market is depressed - prices are down for all but the most valued collector's pieces, which may be good for buyers, but it is not for sellers. The prices are basically liquidation level, not investment level. As has been mentioned here before, eBoy is essentially where you go to 'dump' your older film kit if you have the digital bug.

I mean no disrepect for film, film gear, or those who love it (as I do as well). Just stating facts - prices are lower than they might otherwise be.

It is not that different from the PC market when people moved from the PC/XT to the 286 - overnight, prices on the XT dropped like a rock. Same for the move from Apple IIgs to Macintosh, I think. I knew a lot of folks with XT's and IIgs's that thought they should be worth 1/2 of what they paid not six months ago - but they were not.

It is sad, sure. I wish it were not so hard on those who are not technically savvy, but history tends to steamroller people who don't stay somewhere in shouting distance of 'the curve'.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[clarence]

I understand your frustration - and even your friend's, believe it or not. I think there are at least two forces at work here.

The first is that eBoy changes the landscape of what is available. If you live in a small town, or even a large city, there are only a given number of 1936 left-handed moss-covered family credenza's avaiable at any given time. If there is any demand at all, then it is a seller's market. On a world-wide marketplace such as eBoy, there liable to be any number of the exact same item at any given time - and if you don't get one, another just like it or better will be along shortly. It becomes more of a buyer's market.

You're absolutely right on this. A week ago I stepped into a local camera shop, looking for a bulk film loader. While they were rummaging around looking for one, the assistant at the counter and I started talking.

Eventually I was taking out all the camera equipment in my bag. A Zorki, a FED, and a lot of lenses. As I took each one out, I was asked where I'd purchased them.

'Online', 'Online', 'Online'.

We fell to talking about the used Mamiya 6 that was in the display case a while back (for a ridiculously high price), and I mentioned I got one for a steal.

'Don't tell me; online.'

It's a pity that she, a young enthusiastic photographer, isn't aware of this huge market where freedom of information guarantees that camera users can get their equipment for the lowest prices possible. Similarly ignorant folk, with more money in their pocket, sometimes stop and buy an overpriced commission sales item from the display case, but by and large the cameras sit there, ignored.

Clarence

 

[gbremer]

I've encountered these questions for years in regards to computers. I've been a software designer for almost 20 years and everyone who knows me assumes that I know how to "fix" their PC. It's hard to see the disappointment in peoples faces when I tell them that I've never worked on PCs and own a Mac. Most people just aren't equipped to deal with any of the technical issues involved when problems come up.

I find it's dangerous to give recommendations to people who know so little about the technology they're buying. All of their expectations fall on you when the inevitable problems come up. I solve other peoples problems all day at work. I don't want to do it at home as well.

 

[RicardoD]

I wonder how long this dis-equilibrium will exist (i.e. people ignorant of online marketplace vs. those who are ebay savy).

On one hand I hear people who buy low at garage sales and then sell higher on ebay once they figure out what goods they can specialize in. And this thread has the reverse, the local camera dealer charging double the mint ebay price for an old film camera.

Love or hate it Ebay is a wonderful thing but in another 20 years or so I wonder if things will equalize a bit. There are always those well aware of how to ebay but don't have the time or patience to deal with it. I know I take a lot of time to photographic and properly list my auctions, but sometimes I wonder whether selling anything less than $20 is even worth it.

 

[JohnL]

Great thread!
Thanks, Bill. Thanks, all.

 

[kmack]

I've encountered these questions for years in regards to computers. I've been a software designer for almost 20 years and everyone who knows me assumes that I know how to "fix" their PC. It's hard to see the disappointment in peoples faces when I tell them that I've never worked on PCs and own a Mac. Most people just aren't equipped to deal with any of the technical issues involved when problems come up.

I find it's dangerous to give recommendations to people who know so little about the technology they're buying. All of their expectations fall on you when the inevitable problems come up. I solve other peoples problems all day at work. I don't want to do it at home as well.

Sign on my office door:

Q: How many programmers does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None, that's a hardware problem. Call a tech.

 

[John Camp]

I've got the opposite problem: **I'm** the chump. I've got a slow G4 laptop, a dual G5 Power Mac, and a year-old IMac, which probably cost me a total of what? $9,000 or so since 2003? They are not gonna be worth having somebody carry them down to the dumpster by the end of the year. I know, I know, I can continue using them -- I just can't use all the neat PC software that I could run if I had an Intel Mac and Boot Camp. We're not talking about stuff that's been in the attic --- this sits on my desk and seems to be perfectly good, and in spotless condition, but in theory, it's now all an Argus CIII, and knowing that bites my a*s.

And a few weeks ago, I happily unloaded a near-mint Nikon F4 on my apparently unsuspecting son, for free, only to find out later that *collectors* are chasing them...

And then I was out in Samys and bought an antique 50mm Summiron (for too much) and was so interested in working the moving parts that I didn't notice until I got home that at some point, somebody had bashed a small dent into the base ring and I have to **file it down** before it'll seat properly. That's gonna increase the value.

I should have stayed with my old hobby of collecting French letters.

JC

 

[bmattock]

I should have stayed with my old hobby of collecting French letters.

Unused ones only, I hope.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[John Camp]

Unused ones only, I hope.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

That would depend on the rarity, of course. 😀

JC

 

[bmattock]

That would depend on the rarity, of course. 😀

JC

Penalty on the play, offense, 'Horrifying Mental Image', five yards. No First Down.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[erikhaugsby]

I remember when I was walking around France with my 20D (Forgive me, Father, for by using digital I have sinned. This was the week before I bought my M2) HS French class one day;

some lady on the street walks up and asks me (in english):

"Is that a film or a digital camera?"

and I reply "[See this little screen? The one right here? Yeah...] It's a Digital SLR."

then she quickly counters by saying "Weird, I thought that it sounded like a film camera."

I just smiled and walked away. Honestly, though, I didn't know that SLRs and DSLRs sounded different.... 😀



And, when I was walking around Chenanceaux (spelling?) with my group I ran into this guy carrying a M6 and 50 lux ASPH. Somehow, it was all convinently wrapped together in a new, closed, black Leica NRC. I think he said that he was shooting something like supermarket Kodak Super 400.

sickening

 

[SCOTFORTHLAD]

Great story Bill!!Made my evening,not to mention the rest of the thread as well.

MMMM. Maybe I should get back to Sunday Mass.

Cheers,
Brian.

 

[John Camp]

I remember when I was walking around France with my 20D (Forgive me, Father, for by using digital I have sinned. This was the week before I bought my M2) HS French class one day;

some lady on the street walks up and asks me (in english):

"Is that a film or a digital camera?"

and I reply "[See this little screen? The one right here? Yeah...] It's a Digital SLR."

then she quickly counters by saying "Weird, I thought that it sounded like a film camera."

Oh my god, she was asking you if you were looking for a "date," you dummy.

JC

 

[erikhaugsby]

Oh my god, she was asking you if you were looking for a "date," you dummy.

JC

shudders.

actually, when I think about it, it probably was somebody from a different school that came along in my tour group.